"Report for jury duty".
What?! Oh dears!
Mom was with me and I immediately said over and over, "Mom, I can't do this. I can't do this. I won't do this. I won't do this".
In between laughter and hysteria I tried to realize it was my civic duty. I should be a proud American citizen. It's patriotic to be summoned, right? Well, if you take a good look at my chin right now, it's broke out in pimples from stress. I don't feel very patriotic.
I woke up this morning, THE morning, to report. Stomach in knots and a trip to the bathroom later and I was off. I was nervous for a few reasons. First, I don't particularly like new things. I want to know all the details about a situation before I go in. And for this, I had nothing. I had a time and I place and that was it. Second, what about the girls? Brandon is swamped at work and all my friends have young kids too; who in the world is going to pick them up from school if I'm stuck in a courthouse? I was afraid of all sorts of little things.
Thankfully, Brandon's best friend was also summoned so there was a familiar face in the room with me. If there was an emergency, I wasn't alone. But then something I wasn't expecting happened. When the circuit judges walked out, I knew two of them! What?!
I had myself a quiet chuckle to myself for freaking out and listened to the rules and watched the orientation video. Before we were finished for the day I approached the judge and stated my reasons for excusal -- stay at home mom, in Bible study core group with one of the judges -- but he didn't excuse me. He was super friendly and told me to stick with them and we'd work things out.
I know to some people being nervous about jury duty sounds silly. But to me, it was dreadful. All of the unknowns freak me out. And I'm still not finished with my duty. I must serve for the next three months. This is going to be exhausting. But this is what I'm going to cling to...
"For God has not given us a spirit of fearfulness, but of power, love, and sound judgement". 2 Timothy 1:7
When I pick up the phone to call in next month, I will not be afraid.
When I report to the courthouse, I will not be afraid.
When I'm not personally able to pick up the girls from school, I will not be afraid.
Because He is with me. Even in jury duty.
3 comments:
that doesn't sound too fun. i'm glad you found that verse. cling to it because it's true. hang in there. it might even end up being a fun adventure. :-)
Cari, I can SOO relate to wanting to know every detail of a new situation. I too get nervous JUST like you described. Thanks for the encourgement. Thanks for blogging!
how did jury duty go?
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